At a historic General Assembly session this afternoon, the GA voted, by consensus, to suspend Libya’s membership in the Human Rights Council. In her remarks, Ambassador Rice said, “This unprecedented action sends another clear warning to Mr. Qadhafi and those who still stand by him: they must stop the killing. When the only way a leader can cling to power is by grossly and systematically violating his own people’s human rights, he has lost any legitimacy to rule. He must go, and he must go now.” Rice also spoke to reporters after the vote.

“We are moving beyond simply asking for gender equality, that was then! We are now calling for technical and specialized skills to use effective tools in bringing the political will into reality across all sectors in terms of gender” - HE Mrs Awa Ndiaye, Minister of State for Gender and Relations with African and Foreign Women Associations. Dakar, Senegal, on Nov 30, 2010.

Women Living Under Muslim Laws is nominating WLUML board member Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz from Malaysia as the most knowledgeable and experienced candidate for the Asia representative of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice. You can find a copy of Zarizana Abdul Aziz’s CV here: http://www.wluml.org/sites/wluml.org/files/CV_Zarizana%20Abdul%20Aziz_2010.pdf and instructions on how to make your endorsement follow.

It took years to make the United Nations' newest agency, UN Women, a reality, and then just one day to effectively kill it. Death was effected by allowing onto its board a kingdom where women are not just infamously prohibited from driving but are also virtual minors who need a male guardian's permission to travel and to have surgery — and must be covered from head to toe in public. As one of two countries guaranteed seats as emerging donor nations, Saudi Arabia essentially bought its way onto the board of UN Women, which is dedicated to gender equality around the world. Just three days after securing an automatic seat, Saudi Arabia gave us a reminder of just how oxymoronic its place on UN Women is, when its team showed up at the Asian Games in China without a single woman among the 180-strong delegation.

The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly’s strong approval of a draft resolution, condemning Iran for grave human right violations, is a welcome step in the continuing effort to put a stoplight on the country’s growing human rights crisis, said the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today.

Iran failed Wednesday to secure a seat on the board running the new UN super agency for women in the face of a fierce diplomatic onslaught against its rights record. Saudi Arabia, criticised for refusing even to let women drive, got an automatic seat and rights groups said they will now seek to put the spotlight on the Islamic kingdom's record. Four UN agencies were merged this year to set up UN Women, with a 500-million-dollar budget per year, under the leadership of former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

GENEVA – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo, will conduct an official visit to Algeria from 1 to 10 November 2010 at the invitation of the Government. “During my visit, I intend to meet with national stakeholders involved in fighting all aspects related to violence against women, with a view to appreciate the phenomenon in Algeria. I will also seize the opportunity of this mission to review progress made since the visit of my predecessor in 2007”, said the human rights expert, who will travel to Alger, Constantine, Oran and Hassi-Messaoud.